


we carry each other (we’re just different colors)

by hearden



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers (2017)
Genre: Gen, OT5 ships if you squint (with regards to Trini being gay)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-06-13 07:50:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15359706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hearden/pseuds/hearden
Summary: “None of us really know each other, okay? But--”But, they did.(or: the story before the story of how five kids from Angel Grove became superheroes.)





	we carry each other (we’re just different colors)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [younglegends](https://archiveofourown.org/users/younglegends/gifts).
  * Inspired by [am i the only living soul around](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11270793) by [younglegends](https://archiveofourown.org/users/younglegends/pseuds/younglegends). 



> please please PLEASE go read “am i the only living soul around” it’s one of if not the best fics i’ve ever read for the 2017 movie i love it so much it’s AMAZING, read it, give it a kudo, comment on it, EAT IT, name ur first child after it,,, younglegends truly deserves it
> 
> anyway i loved it SO MUCH i decided to write a tribute to it/inspired by it and this is,,, not the best but,,, i hope y'all enjoy anyway
> 
>  **warnings:** very slight mentions of ableism, classism, racism; minor porn distribution (kim’s movie arc); bullying
> 
>  **this is a genfic but some lowkey ships:** everyone/everyone (with regards to trini being gay), kim/amanda; i personally am all about that poly bi kim headcanon

When Kim is nine, she and her parents uproot their lives and move to Angel Grove. It's about half the size of Seattle and has _none_ of her friends or playmates or the house they used to live in-- All she has are her parents, this _new_ house that she doesn't like quite yet, and her favorite stuffed puppy, Mr. Woofer, that she hadn't let her dad pack into a box with the rest of her things. They move because of her mom's job -- she's opening up a new law firm with a partner here.

"I'm excited," her mom gleefully tells her dad after dinner the first night they move in while they're both doing the dishes, "Good things are going to happen here."

Kim goes to bed and hugs Mr. Woofer tight. She doesn't quite believe it just yet.

 

-

 

There's a kid in Jason's third grade class that is, well, a little… different. His mom tells him not to call the kid "weird" ever since he came home the first day and told her all about how his first day had gone and thrown in an offhand detail about "there's this boy who's a little weird" and when his mom had asked _why_ he said that, he'd explained about the boy clapping too loudly when he was excited or his mumbling to himself during reading time or that thing with plugging his ears at the recess bell and--

"He freaked out," Jason tells his mom, "It was crazy."

In the end, his mom tells him that it's not nice to call people "weird" and that, maybe, the boy is just a little more sensitive to some things than Jason is. "It wouldn't hurt to try and be friends with him," his mom suggests, "You said he sits by himself?"

"Yeah." Jason shrugs. "Nobody likes him." It feels easy to say that. He doesn't _need_ to make another friend; he's already got Clint and David, and all their games on the playground are three-player games.

 

-

 

Kim doesn't like being the new girl at Angel Grove Elementary School. There's, maybe, two other desi kids that she's seen, but they're not in her class with Mrs. Appleby. Angel Grove isn't _like_ Seattle where she and her parents would just take a twenty-minute drive to Bellevue and she had all these other friends just across the lake who looked the same as her. Well, not the _same,_ but similar.

It comes to a head when she sits at the corner of a lunch table by herself because some girls from her class had upturned their noses at her lunch.

Kim dejectedly puts the tupperware lid back on on her container of samosas and shoves it into her pink floral lunchbox, but she can't quite get it because she's too angry and she misses Bellevue and Seattle and her friends--

"Do you need help with that?" a voice asks, and Kim looks up to see a boy with a blue striped polo, a blue lunchbox in one hand and a comic book of _The Amazing Spider-Man_ in his other hand.

"No," Kim mutters, indignantly, and finally fits the container into her lunchbox then zips it shut, still pouting.

"Can I sit here?"

"Sure, I guess."

She recognizes him from her class -- he sits alone like she does, but at least, he seems to have a history with the other kids. A couple of boys like to laugh and sneer at him from across the room when Mrs. Appleby isn't looking. Kim's a little glad for it since it means nobody else has really noticed that she doesn't fit in -- well, now that lunchtime has come around, they do, and she's sure that the excited novelty of being a new kid isn't going to greet her when she comes back into the classroom after lunch.

He holds his hand out to her; she shakes it politely, but his handshake is eager enough that she ends up chuckling a little. "I'm Billy," he says, smiling, "Billy Cranston. Or, well, Joseph Ellis keeps calling me _Cramston_ but that's not my name. I think he's getting it to catch on, though. I don't really like that."

Kim frowns at him. "Why _Cramston?_ "

"He… says I like to cram crayons up my butt," Billy mumbles, and Kim bites her lip to keep from laughing because that sounds ridiculous. It'd be mean to laugh. "Not that I do. I mean, that's dumb. Anyway, I just… I saw you were sitting alone, so I wanted to see if I could eat my lunch with you."

Kim scoffs and petulantly crosses her arms. "It's not like I'm going to eat, anyway, but sure."

Billy tilts his head at her. "Why aren't you going to eat?"

Kim nods her head in the direction of the girls who'd teased her for her lunchbox's contents. "They said my lunch was gross."

"What is it?" he asks, glancing at her closed lunchbox.

"Samosas," Kim answers then explains when Billy just furrows his brow, "They're like… I don't know how to explain it. Um, like an Indian Hot Pocket."

"What makes it Indian?"

Kim shrugs. "The stuff inside of it, how it's made."

"Can I try one?" Billy asks, and Kim blinks.

"You… want to _try_ one?"

He nods.

"What if you…" She shakes her head. "No, you'll think it's gross, too."

"I won't," he promises and it's not exactly a promise he can make because tastes are a personal thing, but with the way he gives her the softest smile Kim has ever seen, she believes him.

"Okay." Kim finally relents and goes about opening her lunchbox again.

"Hey," Billy says as she's opening up her container of samosa, "You never told me your name."

 

-

 

A year later, the mine out on the outskirts of town explodes.

Kim ends up going to Billy's dad's funeral, but she and her parents are the only ones from her grade that go willingly. It's not hard to tell that the other kids who _do_ show up don't know Billy. They try to touch him, try to give him a hug, try to pat him on the back, and Kim knows he doesn't like it. His fists are clenched by his sides, and his mom is busy elsewhere in their house while the wake goes on.

So, she goes over to him, slowly.

"Billy?" she asks, quietly. He glances at her, eyes spacey, and gives her a small smile. It hurts her heart to see. Even at his dad's funeral, he's still trying to smile. "Can I sit here?"

"Yeah, of course."

With only a little bit of difficulty, she hoists herself up on the stool next to his at the kitchen island. Billy has a piece of paper in front of him and his box of coloring pencils, but he hasn't drawn anything yet. She knows him, knows he likes to keep busy, and it scares her a little that he's being so quiet, not moving, so still, so…

Kim reaches over, slowly, to grab the box of coloring pencils, giving him ample time to stop her, but he doesn't. She picks out a pink pencil for her and a blue one for him. "Wanna play some tic tac toe?" she asks, holding the blue pencil out to him.

He glances at her then wordlessly takes it and slides the piece of paper to where it sits between them. When he doesn't make a move to do anything else, Kim grabs a black pencil from the box and draws the 3x3 grid. "Here, you go first."

Billy looks a little bit reluctant at that but draws a blue X in the bottom right corner of the grid. "You know," he says, quietly, when he's made his move, "Blue actually isn't my favorite color. It's my dad's."

 

-

 

Billy doesn't go out much after his dad dies and Kim understands that, but unfortunately, it happens around the same time that her mom's legal firm gets really popular. Her days that aren't filled with school means she has chances to tag along with her mom to the country club that they now have membership to. There's a _pool,_ and she technically can bring along a guest but their membership has two guest spots per family and her parents already bring their boring adult friends. She just wishes she could take Billy; it'd be fun to go swimming with him if his mom lets him go, but that's a moot point since there isn't a _third_ guest spot.

There's a poolside cafe at the country club, and Kim gets access to it. Well, it's her mom's access, but her mom tells her she can put her orders on their family tab, so Kim does. She comes up to the counter and hops up onto a stool, glancing at a boy at the end of the counter who's kneeling on a stool instead of sitting on it, his hands bracing himself on the countertop.

"Come on!" The boy is telling the employees. "My dad's literally _right_ there!" He points in the direction of the tennis courts beyond the caged fence that separates them from the pool.

"Your dad has to order," the employee Kim knows as Shaun says, "You know the rules, you're a guest." He walks over to Kim. "Hey, kiddo. What'll it be today?"

Kim glances at the boy, instead. "What's going on?"

The boy catches her looking at him and scowls a little bit. Kim quickly looks away.

"His dad's working," Shaun says, "Brings him here sometimes since it's summer. He's thirsty."

Kim raises her eyebrows. "It's hot outside--"

Shaun shrugs. "We gave him water, but employees have to pay. They don't have a tab."

"What if… I ordered something for him? Can I do that?" Kim asks. Her mom is in some big meeting for a couple of hours further in the country club in one of its many conference rooms. It's no big deal, really, and she'll say she had a big appetite today if her mom asks, not that Kim thinks she even checks these things.

"Yeah, sure, your name's on the Hart tab, right?"

"Mhm." Kim nods then looks at the boy again. "Hey," she calls out, "What do you want?"

He glances around as if she could be talking to anyone else then points at himself. "Me?"

"Yeah." She waves him to come closer, and instead of getting up, he just clambers over the six stools keeping them apart. Kim giggles while Shaun sighs. "What do you wanna drink?"

"A mango peach smoothie," the boy answers without missing a beat.

Kim smiles then tells Shaun, "Alright, uh, can I have a strawberry banana smoothie and then a mango peach for, uh…"

"Zack," he fills in.

She repeats his name, nodding. "Zack."

 

-

 

At the annual middle school science fair, Zack only goes because he has to -- because his class makes everyone go and walk down to the gymnasium to see the all the students’ projects or whatever. He doesn't care for it, really, because he finds science boring even though his teachers keep telling him that it makes up everything in the world. Everything's a lot. He can't wrap his head around _everything,_ so he doesn't.

Zack quickly breaks off from his class once they enter the gymnasium and just wanders around. All these tables are set up with name tags to match projects, and it's _supposedly_ supposed to be every student at Angel Grove Middle School's project here, but Zack knows his isn't.

He stops at a laptop and blinks, raising his eyebrows. Everyone else has, well, basic stuff. Some real amateurs who don't have or just want a participating grade have exploding volcanoes or whatever, and then this… Zack reads the name tag. _Billy Cranston._ This "Billy Cranston" has some fancy laptop…

"You like it?" a voice behind him asks, and Zack whirls around, a little startled.

"Huh?"

A boy in a blue sweater, the sleeves half-covering his palms, smiles at him. "You like it? The laptop?"

"It's… just a laptop," Zack says.

"I built it myself, actually," the boy corrects, and Zack raises his eyebrows. Oh, so, this is Billy.

"You _built_ it?"

"Yeah," Billy nods, "I had to prove it to Principal Hanson because he didn't believe I didn't just _buy_ it, but why would I buy a laptop when I can build one? It makes no sense."

"Dang, that's super cool."

"Where's yours?" Billy asks, abruptly, and Zack is taken off-guard at how nice but direct this kid is being.

"Where's my what?"

"Your project, of course," Billy explains, "Unless you don't go here, which would be weird, because then you're not supposed to be here? Unless you're a relative of someone who goes here-- Are you? A relative of someone who goes here?"

Man, this dude talks a lot. Zack shakes his head. "No, I _do_ go here. I'm in seventh grade."

"Oh, me, too!" Billy grins.

"Uh, I didn't have a project," Zack continues, looking away.

Billy tilts his head. "Why not?"

"I… was too busy with other stuff," he says, vaguely, "Family stuff. Rough past couple of weeks."

"Oh." Billy bows his head, quietly, as if he regrets asking in the first place. "I'm sorry about that. I hope everything's okay with your family, then."

"Thanks, dude," Zack murmurs, but he doesn't quite mean it. Things aren't going to be okay without his dad for a long while.

 

-

 

Kim understands, suddenly, when she starts taking dance and gymnastics in middle school why it feels right. Middle school is half over for her, and she fits in so nicely -- if she plays it right. She ignores trying out for orchestra because all the other Asian kids flock to that, and she doesn't want to be a stereotype. But, at the same time, she'd stopped packing a home lunch ages ago, and eating desi food at home is a delicacy of rare occurrence -- half because the Hart family mostly eats takeout nowadays and half because her mom is too busy to spend a lot of time every week cooking an authentic Indian meal.

She becomes friends with the same girls who'd teased her about her lunch years ago, and Kim tells herself they don't remember -- because they _don't_ \-- but she does.

She does, and she tells herself to forget. It's old news, water under the bridge, and Amanda Clark is too pretty and too nice for Kim to pass up being friends with her. They're all on the dance team together, anyway, and she's heard Amanda and Harper are excited to try out for cheer in high school and it's-- It's the most that's felt like having a _group_ of friends Kim has felt since moving from Seattle.

Still, she doesn't quite trust cheerleaders just yet, so she holds her reservations for when they make it to high school.

 

-

 

It's a big day today.

Pearl wakes Jason up with a pillow to the face, and Jason bolts up in bed yelping.

"Dad!" he shouts as he chases her, giggling, down the hallway, "Pearl slapped me!"

"I did not!" she shrieks then runs right into their dad's open arms as she turns the corner. Their dad lifts her high up into the air and pokes her stomach.

"Did you slap Jason?" their dad asks, sternly.

"No! I… hit him with a pillow."

"It's the same thing," Jason huffs. Outside, a horn sounds, and he perks up. "Oh, no, what time is it?"

"Your friends have been waiting for fifteen minutes," their dad says, chuckling, and Jason bolts back into his bedroom to get dressed.

"And you didn't wake me up _earlier?_ " he yells as he struggles into a pair of jeans, hopping ridiculously around his room, "Oh, come on!" Slapping on some deodorant and trying but failing to flatten his hair down, Jason rushes out the door and clambers into Clint's older brother's beat-up convertible, falling into the backseat with David.

David playfully shoves him. "About time you showed up, dude! We were about to take off without you."

"Hey, Jase," Clint teases, partially turning around in his seat because his seatbelt stops him from leaning all the way, "Just 'cause you're captain now doesn't mean you get to be _late_ to everything, alright?"

"Whatever." Jason scowls. "We're just going bowling."

" _Celebratory_ bowling," David corrects, and Jason grins as Clint turns on the radio and they take off out of the neighborhood.

 

-

 

Kim makes the AGHS junior varsity cheer team. Amanda and Harper do, too. She's not as entirely committed as they are, though, since it's not varsity. Like, it's a sport and it'll look nice on her college applications and she's _good_ at it, but… It's not the end all, anyway, right?

Plus, there's an Indian Student Association at AGHS, surprisingly, and even though it has about a dozen people and that's _including_ the four officers, her being one of them, Kim's happy to be a part of it.

After cheer practice, she rushes off to meet up with the rest of ISA at a coffee shop down the block, thankful that they'd all been nice enough to even push back their meeting for the multicultural show just because she's the only officer who had a time conflict. It's no Starbucks, really, and it's also no tapioca place, but sure, whatever. Angel Grove doesn't matter to her, at this point; the experiences she has in it does.

Kim walks into the coffee shop and immediately spots the other officers of ISA -- Rohan, Shristi, and Arun -- sitting with a few kids she deduces to be from the Chinese Student Association if the CSA shirts are any indication. "Hey, Kimberly," Shristi says, bumping her shoulder as she sits down next to her, "I already got you a strawberry banana smoothie. Right?"

"Yeah." Kim nods, already taking a sip of it. She's still in her cheer uniform since she hadn't thought there'd been enough time to go into the locker rooms and change, and everyone was _already_ working around her. "Thanks for waiting, you guys."

"No problem," Rohan says, "We were all just chatting. So, I've been talking with Elena here, she's President of CSA, and they'd like to partner up with us for the multicultural show."

"We could certainly use the help," Kim muses then glances over the CSA officers. Her eyes land on the last guy, something familiar tugging at her brain. He just smiles at her, a little coyly.

"Oh, duh, we didn't even introduce everyone." Shristi shakes her head and goes around the table, giving Kim the names of the CSA officers. "So, this is Elena, president; Danny, vice president; Michelle, treasurer; Crystal, secretary; and Zack, the social chair."

It's then that Kim glances at Zack's drink and notices through the clear cup that it's a bright orange slush, and she doesn't have to guess twice to figure it's mango peach.

 

-

 

The curriculum at Angel Grove High is honestly too easy for Billy, but their school district hasn't quite caught up with the rest of the country to have a billion AP subjects yet, so Billy makes do with what he has. He can't graduate early, anyway, so in his spare time, he takes up tutoring and computer club and art club-- Well, he takes up a lot of things. It all keeps him busy. He likes busy.

Mostly, he does tutoring for whatever math or science class he's taking year by year since those are the subjects other kids usually have trouble with, he's noticed.

Mr. Miller asked him to help with chemistry tutoring for the sophomores after school today, so Billy heads over to the science hall after the bell to end the day rings. When he walks into the classroom, there's already a couple of tutors and students paired up, so Billy immediately looks for where he can be helpful. There's a guy sitting at a desk near the back wall, his head in his hands, frustratedly, it seems, and a pencil tucked behind his ear. Nobody else is sitting with him, so Billy approaches, fiddling with his backpack straps.

"Hey," he says, catching the guy's attention, "Are you here for tutoring or are you just here? Sometimes, people like to just hang out after class, but I wouldn't really figure a science class is the best place."

The guy looks up, blinking at him for a moment, then smiles a little bit. "Oh, you're the dude from the science fair. Uh…"

"Billy," he offers, "And I don't ever think I got your name."

"Zack," the other guy says, leaning back in his seat and groaning as he stares at the ceiling, "And I hate chemistry."

Billy sits down in the seat in front of him and turns around, glancing at Zack's paper, seeing equations for energy changes and calorimetry. "I can't help with your feelings toward chemistry, but I can help with whatever you're stuck on," Billy says, chuckling.

Zack grumbles and puts a hand over his face then peeks at Billy through his fingers. "I'm a hopeless case," he states.

"No," Billy gently says, shaking his head, "Nobody's a hopeless case. Everyone needs a little help sometimes."

 

-

 

Zack has A lunch with Kim, but they don't sit together because she's not in his social circle. Not that he really _has_ a social circle, anyway. He just kinda sits wherever he wants whenever he wants, although that's usually with Elena and her friends, most of which belong to the orchestra crowd that Zack's not a part of. Sometimes, he gets roped into conversation because someone will ask him about CSA or the multicultural show, but that's the extent of his participation.

He's glad for the few minutes he has today where he's got flyers to pass out for the multicultural show because it means he gets to be on his feet and not sitting at a lunch table where he doesn't care about half of the conversations going on around him. Across the cafeteria, Zack sees Kim and one of the other ISA officers handing out flyers, so he decides to go out to the courtyard since they've got that area covered.

Stepping out into the courtyard, Zack realizes quickly his mistake because the athletes tend to congregate out here in their packs, but he's already walked through the doors and he has a bunch of flyers in his hand, so, like, he kinda has to do something. And something is definitely not be a coward and leave it to Kim and Rohan to advertise to the whole cafeteria themselves.

Approaching the closest table, Zack braces himself for interacting with a bunch of white boys and flashes his best smile at them. "Hey, uh, I'm with the Chinese Student Association," he starts, losing his confidence the moment the guys all glance at him and then proceed to ignore him and continue talking amongst themselves. Assholes.

One of the guys, though, in a red flannel over a white Star Trek t-shirt meets his gaze with clear blue eyes. "What's up?" he asks, nodding encouragingly for Zack to go on.

"Uh." The guy's friends haven't stopped talking, but Zack figures he's lost them, anyway. "We're hosting the third annual multicultural show with ISA this year," Zack says, holding his stack of flyers up. Only the guy peers at the flyer and holds his hand out for one. Zack has to reach over the head of one of his friends -- who only notices for that reason -- but he gets the paper into the guy's hand, anyway, and that's what matters. "Tickets are $5 and are gonna be split between us and ISA and go into, you know, getting more of a, uh, cultural awareness around the school." It feels stupid now that he's saying it out loud. Zack prefers just advertising on his Instagram and Youtube. Behind a screen. Not talking to a bunch of white boys who're ignoring him.

"Cool," the guy says, nodding and glancing over the flyer again. It's just a nod, but it feels genuine, oddly enough. "I'll be there. Thanks."

 

-

 

"Kimberly, you _can't_ miss this--" Amanda is saying, and Kim just wants to…

"It's _just_ a party," Kim replies, resisting the urge to roll her eyes, "Nobody said it was _the_ party."

"Yeah, but Ty Fleming is throwing it, and his house is _loaded._ If we're there, we'll make varsity in no time."

That's _not_ how sports are supposed to work, Kim thinks, but she knows this town by now, knows how it works. Merit only matters half as much as who you know. "I can't just _skip_ rehearsal," she tries again, but it doesn't matter because there's other rehearsals. The show is next week, but rehearsals are going through the weekend.

"You can miss _one,_ can't you?" Amanda asks, tilting her head at Kim. "It's not like you're gonna forget all your dance moves in one night."

That's not the point, but…

Kim sighs, swallows the thought that this is a bad idea, and nods. "Yeah, I can miss one."

 

-

 

Zack is running through his staff routine again with Crystal in the auditorium when he hears Shristi's frustrated yelling, echoing from where all the show's participants are just clumped together in the front row of seats.

"Are you _serious?_ " she demands, and Rohan flinches, almost dropping his phone in his hand.

Narrowly, Zack misses being whacked by Crystal's staff because he's trying to catch the fiasco going on offstage, and thankfully, she pauses, too, also listening.

"Yo, what's wrong?" he calls out, noticing that only three of the ISA officers are there. But, rehearsals just started for the night, so Kim could just be running a little late--

"Kim's not coming," Shristi answers, projecting her voice so it can reach the stage, "Says she has _a family emergency_ to deal with."

"Well, maybe she does," Zack says, a little defensively, "You never know what's going on."

Beside him, Crystal makes a noncommittal noise and taps the end of her staff on the ground. "Yeah, but, she's also a cheerleader… and Ty Fleming is throwing some big party tonight. I heard one of the football guys talking about it in Government."

Zack scoffs, "Who the hell's Ty Fleming? No way she'd go to a party over rehearsals--"

Crystal raises her eyebrows the nods at Shristi, who's collapsed into a seat and is staring angrily at the ceiling. "Why d'you say that? Do you know her? 'Cause they do, and apparently, she already is skipping."

It leaves a funny feeling in his stomach, but Zack frowns, anyway. Guess he doesn't know her.

 

-

 

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Billy meets up with Zack to help him with chemistry. It happens every week, and Zack always lets him know beforehand if he has any other commitments or higher priority tutoring appointments to go to, things like that. They exchange numbers, but Billy usually lets him text first that he's going to be at tutoring that day or otherwise, so, one day, when seventh period is long over and he's sitting in Mr. Miller's classroom, waiting for Zack to come in, he never gets a text and sends one off instead.

 **_Billy:_ ** _Hey, are you still coming to tutoring today?_

He waits a few minutes then gets a response.

 **_Zack:_ ** _no srry man smthng came up cant do it now anymore_

 **_Billy:_ ** _What's wrong? Is it a scheduling conflict? I have other days free._

 **_Zack:_ ** _no not just that_

 **_Zack:_ ** _other stuff cant talk abt it_

 **_Zack:_ ** _c u around dude thx 4 all the help_

Later that week, he tries to wait around for Zack again, but he never shows.

 

-

 

It's a miracle that they make it to Angel Grove in one piece because their old ass van is breaking down, and actually _does_ break down on Trini's second day in Angel Grove. Her dad takes it to the mechanic, and she comes along because she's not enrolled in classes yet and, well, her mom had told her to go along. Go out. Feel the fresh air.

Trini turns her nose up at the mechanic shop. It smells nothing like fresh air.

There's a boy working the front when Trini and her dad walk in. HIs name tag says _Zack,_ and he waves at them. "Welcome to Flynn's," he greets, "Hold on." He disappears through a door that presumably leads to the garage to get the owner then comes back. "Flynn'll be just a sec." The boy peers at Trini and her dad, and while her dad doesn't notice, she just scowls back at him. "You guys new around here?" he asks, "Never seen you before."

"What, you know everyone in town?" she asks, sarcastically, earning her a soft _tsk_ from her dad.

Just then, the owner of the shop walks through the door and leaves it wide open, the loud whirring and clanking of mechanic work drifting through the air. Zack turns to talk to the owner, and Trini's dad lean over to lecture her.

"Don't be so hard, Trini," he says, and she rolls her eyes.

"Whatever, I just wanna go home," she mutters.

"We'll get home faster the less you complain."

"I'm gonna go sit down," she replies, jerking her thumb at the waiting area up front. She slumps against the wall and takes a seat, pulling her phone out to waste half an hour.

It turns into _two_ hours, and at the end of it all, her dad says they're just going to buy a new SUV and sell off the van because it's not worth fixing for how long they've had it. As Trini's leaving, she hears the boy -- _Zack_ \-- call after her, "Bye, Didi!" but she shakes her head and decides it must be some kind of mistake.

 

-

 

Kim enters her junior year with one group of friends: the _new_ varsity cheer squad that she makes with Amanda and Harper. The multicultural show had been a hit last year and she _had_ gone to every practice after that, but things with her and the ISA had just drifted apart following that. A new officer core was elected with everyone returning except Arun because he was graduating and Kim because, well, because she's sure Shristi never really forgave her.

Or, well, she doesn't care enough to stick around long enough to find out if Shristi's even still mad.

That party had been the night she'd gotten together with Ty Fleming and his mansion on the outskirts of town and his backyard swimming pool and his family who are actually some of the most valued donors at the country club Kim used to go to when she was a kid. She goes again with Ty, and they use their guest spots for their friends and spend several weekend nights poolside, forgetting the world outside of the club. It hardly matters to her, anyway -- she's got the people she needs here, inside of these fences.

 

-

 

Trini has an office work period for sixth. It's nice, quiet. Well except for when classes come in for research, which she hates. It happens too frequently because it _is_ still high school, but they could stand to be more respectful of, like, everything.

Right now, there's an English class in, and it has a ridiculous amount of football boys -- varsity, judging by their jackets -- who can't shut up. She doesn't get how or why athletes always get put into the same classes as each other -- it's always a recipe for disaster, case in point.

She's reshelving books, dragging the cart behind her, when one of the boys comes up to her. His baby blue letterman -- _Jason_ is embroidered on the left chest area -- brings out his eyes, and overall, he just seems too soft to be from the same breed as his friends who're now blowing straw wrappers at each other. She doesn't know where they got straws from, and she doesn't quite care. But, maybe she won't scowl at him… immediately, at least.

"Hey, uh, can you help me find this book? I've got the call number," the boy says, holding up a slip of paper with his scribbly handwriting on it, "But I looked and it's not there."

Trini sighs. This must be how retail workers feel on a daily basis. She holds her hand out for the paper then glances at it and walks off in the direction of the shelf it's in without waiting for him to follow. When she gets to where the book should be, surprisingly enough, it's not there right away. Usually, people are just dumb and blind, but sometimes, she guesses, they aren't. "Uhm," she hums to herself then pushes on the spine of the book next to where it should be. The book presses against something, and a soft _thunk_ is heard against the back of the shelf. Frowning, Trini reaches behind the row of books, her fingers brushing against a hard cover. She grasps at an edge and drags a book out from behind the others, glancing at the call number. It's the one he's looking for. "Didn't take much," she murmurs, handing him his book and piece of paper back.

"Oh. Should've thought of that," he says, sheepishly.

"Well, if you had, I wouldn't have something to do, then," she retorts, and he looks even more uncomfortable.

"Um, thanks," he says then shuffles off.

Trini walks back to where she'd left her reshelving cart and watches him go back to his friends. He nudges one of his friends on the back and points at a straw wrapper on the floor. "Hey," she hears him saying, "Pick that up, dude. Someone's gotta clean up after you." She doesn't _enjoy_ it, but the hint of a smile tugs at her lips at that as she returns to reshelving books.

 

-

 

Just as there's new cheerleaders on the varsity team, there's new players on the varsity football team. One of them, Jason Scott, is the talk of the cheer squad, but only because he's the quarterback. There's something that Kim doesn't quite understand about the _appeal_ of quarterbacks, but it's every white girl's Friday Night Lights wet dream or whatever.

"What do you think, Kim?" Harper asks one afternoon as they're getting dressed in the locker rooms.

"About what?" she asks, distracted because she always is while getting dressed, more focused on changing into her uniform than anything else.

"Weren't you listening?" Amanda asks, scoffing from beside her, and Kim can hear her eyeroll without looking.

That and, well, Amanda's locker is right next to Kim's.

"Sorry," she murmurs, "Mind was elsewhere." She finishes tying her shoes and stands, looking at Harper while Amanda puts on her top in her periphery. Not that she's specifically trying to notice that because that would be… uncomfortable.

"The new varsity quarterback," Harper repeats, "What do you think of him? I think he's kinda hot."

Kim glances at Amanda, who just raises her eyebrows at her while pulling her hair into a ponytail. She swallows then shrugs. "I dunno, I don't really know him."

 

-

 

Of all the teenaged deliquents who don't respect the library when they come to use it and then just leave, Trini has the least problem with the boy in the blue striped polo who comes in after school. Sometimes he comes in with friends and they go on the computers in the corner, sometimes she sees them play a game of Dungeons and Dragons at one of the tables, sometimes he's by himself, but he always cleans up a mess if he makes one and he always smiles at her, even if she doesn't say a word to him.

He never asks for help, actually, and that's the only reason why Trini hardly speaks to him. Always seems to know where every book he's looking for is, and once, when the printer jammed up, she had been about to go grab the librarian from her office, but then the boy just fixed it himself and patted the printer, smiling proudly. After that day, seeing him always leaves her with a good feeling in her chest because he seems like a really nice kid. Better than this crap small town, anyway.

It's getting close to four when the school closes for the day, and the boy has on headphones, intensely focused on a game he's playing on his laptop, so Trini approaches him from the front to let him know that she's there. She waves at him from over the top of his laptop, and he takes his headphones off.

"We close in ten minutes," she says.

"Oh, okay, yeah, I knew that," the boy says, apologetically, "Sorry, I lost track of time."

"No, it's all cool. Just letting you know." She goes back to making sure all the communal use computers are logged off and that nobody's left their trash near them as the boy packs his stuff up to go.

"See you around!" he calls out as he leaves, waving at her.

She smiles and gives him a short wave back.

 

-

 

The week after Spring Break, Coach Heinrich drops a bombshell on them: "Kim, I'm promoting you to co-captain with Amanda."

"What?"

" _What?_ " Kim feels like she's more shocked than Amanda is, but Amanda's mouth is wide open and Harper's taken a step back, a little unnerved. "I don't _need_ a co-captain. No offense, Kim, but you're too busy to be captain, right? You have ISA."

Kim blinks. Oh, she's not offended. Just like she hadn't been offended the first three times when she'd been nominated for Homecoming court and Amanda had _also_ been nominated and then Amanda had come around with her sweet voice -- the one Kim simultaneously _knows_ is fake but can't shake out of her head, regardless -- and spun so many tales of what a win would mean to her because of whatever new, bad thing was going on in her life, whether it was her parents divorcing or her dog getting sick or whatever. Kim, of course, had said yes every time and reluctantly withdrew her name from the ballot.

"No, I'm not, actually," she says, defiantly, and feels Harper tense, "And I'm not in ISA anymore, so I have _plenty_ of free time. It's not too much to handle, Coach. Thank you."

Coach Heinrich nods, and that's that, but Amanda is still fuming when they go back to the locker room to change and leave for the day.

 

-

 

She and Amanda don't speak for a whole month after that. It makes cheer practice ridiculously hard to pull off without her co-captain communicating with her, but Amanda does it in a way that Coach Heinrich doesn't notice, always talking to Kim indirectly after other people have spoken. It's so under the radar that Kim almost doesn't notice -- except that it constantly keeps happening so she _does_ notice.

And, then, one night, out of the blue, Amanda sends her a text.

 **_Amanda:_ ** _hey srry ive been busy but i need ur help w/ smthng_

Kim does the only thing she's ever done, the only thing she'd ever really think of doing: she answers.

 **_Kim:_ ** _ur fine i get it_

 **_Kim:_ ** _what do u need_

 **_Amanda:_ ** _theres this guy ive been talking w/ and i want ur opinion on a pic i took_

 **_Amanda:_ ** _u know since ur my bestie and co-captain_

 **_Kim:_ ** _ok?_

 **_Amanda:_ ** _(image attachment)_

Kim drops her phone on the kitchen floor and cracks the screen, cursing to herself, but when she picks her phone up, it's still open to Amanda's picture. Thankfully, her parents aren't home, but she still just feels like she's being watched as she stares at her screen, half in shock and half in… something else. Her stomach twists.

 **_Kim:_ ** _holy shit???_

 **_Kim:_ ** _whos this guy and why are u sending him this wtf_

 **_Amanda:_ ** _not important & i asked u a question _

**_Amanda:_ ** _opinion?_

 **_Kim:_ ** _i mean… u look good? idk what u want me to say tbh_

 **_Amanda:_ ** _thats it?_

"What-- what else do you _want_ me to say?" Kim asks, loudly, into the emptiness of her kitchen. She leans against the counter, telling herself to breathe slowly, but it's not working. Her hands shake as she types out another message to Amanda.

 **_Kim:_ ** _what else u want me to say_

 **_Kim:_ ** _send it i guess good luck_

She doesn't mention how reckless she thinks the idea is or how out of left field it seems-- she hadn't even known Amanda was seeing anyone, and they tell each other everything. Whenever Amanda asks about Ty, Kim always answers, always tells.

Or, well, told.

Almost everything.

Some things Kim keeps for herself.

She doesn't know what possesses her, if it's some twisted jealousy or just it seems right in _this_ moment, but she copies the picture then types out a new message to Ty.

 **_Kim:_ ** _babe look at this_

 **_Kim:_ ** _amanda just texted me asking abt this pic for her to send to some dude_

 **_Kim:_ ** _(image attachment)_

 **_Kim:_ ** _can u believe her?_

 **_Kim:_ ** _is this the kind of girl u wanna bring home to ur parents?_

 

-

 

Well, that had been a bad idea.

 

-

 

Since she isn't in any of the social circles that receives  _that_ picture, Trini hears about it -- not from this Kimberly Hart she hears the name of, but from the other girls on the cheer squad, some of whom are in her math class.

"I can't believe Kimberly  _did_ that," one girl says as Trini keeps her head down and tries to solve the quadratic equation on the board in her notebook, "Amanda  _trusted_ her."

"She's probably just jealous," a girl that Trini knows is Harper because she gets her name called out for talking and texting underneath her desk quite a lot during class, "She's never gotten to run for Homecoming because Amanda always wins, and Kim knows she doesn't stand a chance. I mean, she used to hang out with those losers from ISA."

Another girl laughs. Trini just wants them to shut up so she can concentrate, but it's not like she can pull her headphones out of her backpack and put them on while in class. "Well, she's definitely  _not_ going to have a chance at Homecoming court now."

Trini rolls her eyes at the gossip and presses the tip of her pencil down against her paper harder. Whoever this Kimberly Hart is, she's got people talking, and Trini can't help but wonder if there's anything worth all that to gossip about.

 

-

 

It could’ve ended much worse.

She could’ve gone to jail, for one, but Kim thinks living her life the same without the consequence of jail is actually much, much worse, despite what her parents keep telling her.

Count your blessings, her mom had said.

You’re lucky I got her to drop the charges, her mom had said, Otherwise, you could end up on a registry, you’re both minors.

Yeah, Kim thinks, Lucky.

 

-

 

The entire summer passes, and she spends it wanting to die in her room because the legal stuff had happened as school was letting out, and Kim couldn’t possibly control the flow of social traffic during the summer. People talk, gossip, spread rumors, make up shit, and she can’t stop any of it from her bedroom. Especially since her parents ground her and take her phone and laptop away so all she can do for almost three months is watch TV, dig out her old Walkman from when she was a kid and hope it still works, and listen to her parents argue downstairs about her future and how they ended up with a daughter who makes a decision like the one she made.

When she comes back to school, there’s a new girl who transfers into her English class, but Kim doesn’t say hi to her. Instead, she’s too busy rushing in and out of her classes, trying to catch Amanda and make things right again. Without her friends, she has nobody.

 

-

 

Senior Prank is a big deal, and the absolute biggest deal for varsity football players since they _are_ the faces of Angel Grove High. “It’s gotta be good,” David’s saying, “Like real good, we gotta do something that people will talk about after we graduate. I don’t mean TPing Principal Feig’s house or whatever. I mean, like--”

“Bullshit,” Jason says, abruptly.

“What?” Clint stares at him.

“Bull shit,” he repeats, slower, “We’re facing Montgomery for Homecoming, right? So, we leave a cow in their school -- after feeding it, of course. It’s a two-in-one, our Senior Prank _and_ we kick their asses like the shit team they are. Oh, well, three-in-one, I guess.”

“And… how are we gonna get a cow?” David asks then makes a show of looking up Jason’s sleeves.

Jason shoves him away and pulls out his phone. “I’m pretty sure Google can tell me.”

 

-

 

Yeah, that hadn’t been a good idea, either, but he’d loved every second of it, right up until his dad left him in jail for three nights and then Coach Jordan suspended him for the season -- and since this is his last season before graduation, it’s final -- and _then_ Clint and David stopped talking to him because the team did terribly in their first few games without him. So, apparently, it’s _his_ fault that the replacement quarterback sucks.

Or, like, his fault he got caught and didn’t rat Clint and David out. Or something.

 

-

 

As she watches Colt mess with Billy, Kim almost stands up to beat the shit out of him, but that’s a part of her that’s gone.

And Jason Scott gets there first, anyway.

Her phone vibrates in her hand with a text from Amanda then she’s up and scrambling to the restroom, her mind already off of the thing with Colt and Billy, because when Amanda calls, she answers.

 

-

 

“You know, kids used to call me Billy _Cramston_ in third grade like ‘Billy crams tons of crayons in his butt’ -- not that it’s possible to cram a ton of crayons in a butt-- Anyway--”

Billy glosses over it so quickly and it takes him until he’s back in his bedroom considering whether or not he should go to the Cranstons’ house, but Jason remembers a time when he was nicer, when football hadn’t been his whole entire life that ate up every good thought he ever had because if it wasn’t about his dreams -- or, rather, his _dad’s_ dreams -- then it didn’t matter.

He glances at the clock. It’s not seven yet, but maybe, if this boy wants his help so much and can help him in _return,_ then maybe it matters a little bit.

 

-

 

Trini can feel him watching her whenever she spends her weekday nights or her weekend mornings at the mine, meditating to, well, her meditation music, which just so happens to be hardcore death metal. It doesn’t bother her that he’s watching her since he’s not _doing_ anything like talking to her or harassing her or calling the police on her. Whatever. It’s harmless.

And, besides, it gives her a little bit of comfort in an odd sort of way, that Trini spends all of her time watching other people from the background, maybe this is going to bring her closer to the day that someone finally steps up and asks to see her.

 

-

 

“Billy Cranston? Weird.”

Although, the moment the words are out of her mouth, Kim wants to take them back. If she can change this much without realizing it before it’s too late, then she shouldn’t judge the fact that Jason Scott knows and would go somewhere with Billy Cranston. Even if they do seem like they come from opposite worlds.

“But, I’ve seen him up here before,” Kim tells Jason, not because she wants him to know but because if she says it out loud, then maybe she can answer why she never walked down there and asked him if he wanted her company.

 

-

 

“Seen him up here before,” Zack says, staring at Billy, “Dude cannot just be blowing stuff up!” He hadn’t thought the guy who’d tutored him for a couple of weeks in chemistry also had the power to blow up, like, a mountain or whatever. Huh. Maybe he should’ve paid more attention to Billy’s chemistry lessons.

 

-

 

“Hey! This is a restricted area!”

“Oh, really, Einstein? Restricted? So, we shouldn’t be up here doing _Karate Kid_ moves? I see you.”

“Or hanging out on old train cars? I see you, too, homeboy.”

“Who is she?” Kim asks, and Jason bristles, something familiar tugging at him but he can’t put his finger on it.

“I don’t know,” he answers, not knowing it’s a lie, “I’ve never seen her before.”

 

-

 

There’s five of them in a van together, racing toward death at seventy miles an hour, hearts pounding, hands worriedly gripping each other or the back of old car seats, and they don’t know each other.

 

 

But, they will.

**Author's Note:**

> title from Different Colors - WALK THE MOON which is absolutely a reboot team bop
> 
> while we’re at it, some other reboot team bops:  
> Someone To You - BANNERS  
> Thunder/Young Dumb & Broke - Imagine Dragons/Khalid  
> (Un)Lost - The Maine  
> The Kids Aren’t Alright - Fall Out Boy 
> 
> *slides a $5 gift card to subway over to hasbro* i fully expect to see these on a sequel soundtrack, chop chop
> 
> ok but uhhhhhh rewatch the movie w/ these interactions in mind,,, i died and i'm currently dead and sad like trini going "really? now you're gonna ask me who i am?" is So Bitter in the context of this fic i'm thriving


End file.
